I read a great article today about distance learning. It was in the Orlando Sentinel, and I found it particularly inspiring, so I'll post a link for it here. Hopefully, when you're reading this blog entry, the link will still work.
Knowledge creates power for life
In case the link doesn't work in the future, let me recap the story for you:
Barbara Newman is 39 and her daughter Stephanie is 20. On December 21st of 2006, both walked the graduation stage together at Florida's Brevard Community College, having each earned their associate in arts degrees, mostly through online courses.
I, myself, considered Brevard Community College as a possibility for my own online degree studies.
Barbara's youngest child suffers from autism, and so e-learning proved to be an oustanding opportunity for her to earn her degree, mostly from her own home where she could continue to care for all of her kids. Barbara had faced a challenge when she found that her marriage was in trouble and headed for divorce. Her soon-to-be ex-husband at the time asked Barbara how she planned to survive without him, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to make it on her own and support her family on $7 an hour.
"I had to show my children, other children and other mothers out there that it can be done," she says. "I had to do something with my life by getting an education."
How incredibly special it must have been, and how proud that mother must have felt, to share that moment of graduation with her daughter. Not only has she accomplished something important in her life, but because her daughter did so at the same time, they will have a lasting memory that they will be able to share with themselves and others.
Barbara plans to go on to enroll at another Florida school and continue her education in business administration, with the hopes of eventually becoming a school principal.
A truly inpsiring story.